Letter: Dairy would drive away business

On Oct. 12, the Daily Tribune published an article on the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce's support of the Golden Sands Dairy, the CAFO in the town of Saratoga proposed by the Wysocki Family of Companies. The subtitle of that article indicated that well over 100 jobs would be created - anyone just skimming through the headlines would get the impression that these were permanent jobs. It was not until the very end of the article that the truth was exposed: Only 20 permanent jobs will be created by the dairy itself. The rest of the jobs are construction jobs, and while such jobs are important to the community, it is unwise to support a project mainly for temporary positions.

The town of Saratoga is presently very friendly to small businesses. According to the latest available fire inspection lists from the Saratoga town office, there are more than 100 businesses in Saratoga. Each of these employ at the very least one person. In addition there are the smaller part-time or home-based businesses that don't warrant inspection, as well as businesses in the town of Rome nearby. Many of these businesses will be threatened by loss of quantity and purity of water as well as air quality. This type of pollution has been a reality around the Central Sands Dairy and would be a reality here.

The Golden Sands Dairy will not greatly increase business in Saratoga but will drive away business in the town. Very high nitrate levels and E. coli have shown up in the wells around the Central Sands Dairy under the management of Wysocki Farms. By all means we should be open to business, but we need to measure the cost to our citizens and environment against the jobs created. The Chamber of Commerce needs to support all the businesses in the area and not sacrifice the small businesses in Saratoga and Rome to show that they welcome big business at any cost.

Doreen Dimick

Wisconsin Rapids

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Letter: Dairy would drive away business

On Oct. 12, the Daily Tribune published an article on the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce's support of the Golden Sands Dairy, the CAFO in the town of Saratoga proposed by the Wysocki Family

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